On Friday afternoon on huffingtonpost and then Friday night on all three cable TV networks Barack Obama took steps to address his relationship with his pastor, Jeremiah Wright. You may believe Obama's words, you may not. I want to look at the big picture.
Thursday night in a talk on religion and politics that I gave to a well-educated audience in Seattle, a conservative audience member – someone who I like and appreciate, and who is troubled by the right’s exclusionary religious politics in recent decades – said that Obama, ironically, was going to have to now do something un-Christian. What this person meant was that Obama was going to have to throw his 20-year pastor, Wright, under the bus, denounce him, and declare him persona non grata.
I replied that the audience member had correctly nailed the politics of the matter – that today's political culture would demand exactly such a response by Obama. But I said that I truly hoped for something different. I said that how Obama responded would tell me much about who he really was -- as a person.
So, what have we gotten so far?
In my response to the questioner I said that Obama had to denounce Wright’s comments but that I hoped Obama would have the desire and spine to stand by Wright, to create a space in which we as a nation might have the courage to talk about how religion, politics, and race intersect in America. If Obama did this – denounced the words but refused to cut all ties to Wright – then I thought it would be courageous and would be an example of Obama walking the walk of the faith he trumpets. It would be an example of offering the other cheek, rather than slapping another one down.
Obama’s first lines of response suggest he may have that courage. I wish to highlight what I see as the central pieces in Obama's huffpo piece:
As I have written about in my books, I first joined Trinity United Church of Christ nearly twenty years ago. I knew Rev. Wright as someone who served this nation with honor as a United States Marine, as a respected biblical scholar, and as someone who taught or lectured at seminaries across the country, from Union Theological Seminary to the University of Chicago. He also led a diverse congregation that was and still is a pillar of the South Side and the entire city of Chicago. It's a congregation that does not merely preach social justice but acts it out each day, through ministries ranging from housing the homeless to reaching out to those with HIV/AIDS.
Most importantly, Rev. Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life. In other words, he has never been my political advisor; he's been my pastor. And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn.
And MSNBC quotes Obama saying this:
"I strongly condemn" Wright’s statements, but "I would not repudiate the man," Obama said. "He’s been preaching for 30 years. He’s a man who was a former Marine, a biblical scholar, someone who’s spoken at theological schools all over the country.
"That’s the man I know," Obama said. "That’s the man who was the pastor of this church."
Let’s cut to the chase: Obama has chosen to denounce the comments without demonizing the source. It’s a gutsy position, and risky politics given the volatility of religion, politics, and race. Any one of these can be a devastating third-rail in U.S. culture.
But, in so doing, Obama has opened up a space for people to actually do what happened on CNN tonight – to talk about why an African American pastor who fought on behalf of his nation might speak in such derogatory terms about that same country. There was a bit tonight on CNN that gave me hope – not the nothing-but-words happy feeling, but a genuine sense that maybe, just maybe, we might be getting somewhere.
To set this up, there was a roundtable conversation that included Roland Martin, former executive editor of the Chicago Defender, and David Gergen -- paragon of the white, established political punditry and operatives in this country, former member of the Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton administrations. Gergen was asked by Anderson Cooper about whether Obama could politically weather this moment. Gergen said Obama would be OK if he responded "aggressively," then Gergen added:
GERGEN: But I do think -- I hope, in the next segment, we can come back to understanding that there's a discourse, there's a conversation in the black community.
COOPER: Yes.
GERGEN: There has been for a long time, which is different from what is in the white community. And we ought to understand and appreciate the differences...
MARTIN: Very true.
GERGEN: ... and not expect everybody to be just the same in this country.
COOPER: And that's -- we are actually going to look at that extensively, both in a package and also in a discussion with all of you, coming up.
---snip---
COOPER: Well, Roland, David Gergen brought up an interesting point that I want to put to you about the African-American experience, the African-American experience in church versus white American experience in church and the tradition. Different traditions.
Is there -- is there something that -- I mean, white people looking at this interpret differently -- you can't generalize like this, but that African-Americans looking at this may see it differently or hear things differently than white Americans listening to this?
MARTIN: Absolutely. Because I think, for instance, one of the sermons when Reverend Wright talked about the -- talked about Israel and South Africa and apartheid. A lot of people will say, you know, hey, you know, South Africa, the African National Congress, they were a communist organization. But African-Americans will say, that's apartheid.
And so I remember even when Dick Cheney did not support the condemning of apartheid, because he said they were communists. African-American Pastors were saying, "Wait a minute. Apartheid is wrong."
Other people were saying, "No, we think communism is wrong." So we've had that history.
Martin Luther King, April 4, 1967, gave that famous speech at Riverside Church, condemning the Vietnam War. Well, others said, "Wait a minute. How dare you speak out against the nation when it comes to this war?"
There's a history in the black church of combining theology with sociology as well as politics for the advancement of African- Americans. So yes, a lot of people don't have that understanding of those issues.
COOPER: David, you brought this up. Why do you think that's an important point?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, because there's a long tradition, Anderson. And among black leaders to have a different view of American history, going all the way back to Frederick Douglass, who was one of the greatest American heroes of the 19th century, you know, who -- who gained his freedom from slavery in a great order.
He was invited the a July 4th celebration to give a July 4th speech in 1852, and he showed up and said, "You know, you whites see July 4 very differently from what I see it. This is not a day of celebration for us."
And I have found that in my classroom with black students frequently. When they speak their minds and when they speak their hearts, they have a very different view. I've had a young woman tell me, "July 4, we still can't celebrate it in my family, because of what's happened to us."
And I think that we as whites have to be understanding and empathic toward that and try to understand that, that people who are African-Americans legitimately have a different perspective on what American history has meant and take that into account as we hear this.
And it's not a lack of patriotism. It is a different form of patriotism. Actually, Reverend Wright may love this country more than any of us but feel we've fallen short of what we preach and believe.
That is what I'm looking for: someone in the (white) establishment saying explicitly that some African Americans may have experienced this nation differently than some whites -- and that religion may be tied to that experience. If Obama can have the courage to stand in this moment, then maybe we'll actually get somewhere in talking honestly about race, religion, and politics. And maybe the loudest, most strident, most conservative voices in the media won't control this moment.
If that happens, then we'll all be better off. But it requires courage.
Crossposted at streetprophets